TheSongsofDistantEarth

Apparently owls are grouches because they don't sleep enough? I recommend highly the Samuel Sagan book for a real, practical way to open the third eye. Did those teachers on 'Romper Room' have their third eyes open to see all the kiddies in TVland? ralis, maybe try saying "Romper Stomper Bomper Boo" and see if your third eye opens and you can see Vajra in his Buddha Boy skivvies!

Jeez Slop, I hate to point this out to you, but you just wasted a bunch of space on this reply that you didn't need to make. "You could have just stayed out of the thread." Indeed.

I did post that here a while ago, maybe that's where you saw it.It's an absolutely top-notch instructional book. You can download it for free, but the printed version is much easier to work from, and I would advise looking for a used copy online. I actually went to one of their workshops, Samuel Sagan is pretty amazing and low-key.

Did you know that mal backwards is lam?

Worked for me!

bubble bursting time! I don't mean that in a good way, either, but in that big-headed pride, "what I experience in meditation is absolute truth" spiritual ego. As long as it agrees with your tradition and teacher, then it becomes your "perception" of the truth. But you do share tons of great info here with us about Buddhism and I do respect you in some ways for a few reasons.

You've always seemed a bit dry here on the taobums, maybe it's your sense of humor that needs goosing?

ooops! you sure you got the right forum? Not to burst the bubble, or anything...it's kinda different than you may think, but I bet you'll like it anyway. Plus, I love dogs, and there's way too many cat people here,both male and female. Welcome to da taobums, dawg!

Not true.

yes, of course! but then again, maybe not.

This is a very odd question. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Interesting. As an aside, I don't think the Mayo Clinic is what they once were, though.

I have taken it off and on, for a few years. The effect at the beginning was a noticeable lightening of mood. it can be stimulating, which is why it is usually taken early in the day. With prolonged use, it seemed to lose it's effects, and I even noticed that it started to cause increased sweating, which is prop ably an idiosyncratic reaction. I would encourage you to experiment with it.

Is that a real total eclipse over Easter Island?

Mmmm...obviously an alchemical chef who knows what she's doing...

Aye, and what does that tell ye, pray tell??

Me, I'm not much of a fan of stewed meat, but I love using the crockpot to make all manner of beans. If you can get pinto beans in Australia, I can get you my recipe for Mexican 'Borracho Beans', (borracho means 'drunken' in Spanish) in which beer is an ingredient with pinto beans, garlic, onions, cumin, chilies, tomatoes and a few other things. Beans of all sorts are awesome in the crock. You can just beans in the pot, seperately sautee some garlic, onions and veg in olive oil, toss them in; then a few ladles of marmite season to taste. The best part is smelling them cook all day. I'm sure you can find some other recipes from our crewmates here. Hey, is this 'Taoist Discussion', or 'Off Topic'?

WOW! I am very impressed with this. This is a very self-aware perspective to see your vulnerability to new material this way, and to state it. It is very true for everybody, but most are not able to grasp this because of ego.

Sorry, but this is only an inference, GIH. Awareness could come from Divine Spark. It is more reasonable to take on your argument, but you cannot rule out God as source of awareness. By your reasoning, the Big Bang would could not have happened. It too, is a start, but was not experientially preceded by anything.

Well, take a look at the global events of this summer..."worst ever" floods in Pakistan, leaving at least 2 million people homeless, and severely affecting 13 million, catastrophic rains in China leading to a massive mudslide, floods in eastern Europe, massive forest and peat fires in russia of Biblical type proportions befoul he air in Moscow and the Western part of the country...those are just the biggest events of the past few weeks. The US economy is fighting massive unemployment and the recovery is just not happening, while the government is in gridlock about what to do...this is just off the top of my head, there's more... 2012 will simply be a coincidence with the predictions of the end of time, but it is likely to be the end of life as we know it, as these trends toward chaos accelerate and the world is pitched into worldwide economic catastrophe, leading to "theEnd of Life as We Know It". Have a nice day!

OK, so you say experience has no source. So pure Awareness must be a precondition for an experience to 'happen'. Has Awareness always existed! Without beginning and without cause? How can you know this? The only thing that can be known is that Awareness exist right now, and therefore can be the experienced, right? Awareness can speculate that it has always existed, but can that be known?

Hmmm...pizza? You just said you were on a diet! What's up wid dat, Marble?

How would you explain infinite regress in very simple terms? Why is experience in meditation considered more valid than than experiences in waking life that include the five senses and perhaps intuition? They are all just experiences, one cannot fully validate meditative experiences, except by comparing them to others. Is it the insight that makes them appear more valid?

Oh my God, Vajra has become a teacher! this is great, in his own thread! I'm staying out of this...go, Vajra, go!!! I can't believe this is happening...Socratic method and everything! OK, shhh... I'm going to hang back and learn... I'm serious, i've been waiting for this for a long time. This is a very good thing.